Partial biological and molecular characterization of Iranian isolates of Tomato aspermy virus

Abstract

Tomato aspermy virus (TAV) has a wide host range and usually infects ornamental plants. To identify and characterize molecular and biological properties of the virus, 436 samples were collected from various provinces of Iran. TAV was detected in three samples of ornamental plants through double antibody sandwich ELISA test using specific polyclonal antibody. The 687 bp segment including the coat protein (CP) gene was amplified by RT-PCR, cloned and sequenced. Nucleotide sequences of the CP gene of Iranian TAV isolates were compared with available GenBank isolates. Phylogenetic analysis showed that TAV isolates were classified into two groups I and II, and the group II was divided in two subgroups IIA and IIB. All the Iranian TAV isolates were classified in subgroup IIA and shared the high nucleotide and amino acid sequence identities (more than 99%). The results of this study also showed a wide host range of the Iranian TAV isolates among test plants. This study is the first report of TAV occurrence in Iran and the first natural occurrence of TAV on Petunia hybrida in the world.

Keywords

• tomato aspermy virus
• phylogenetic position
• rt-pcr